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Mar 8, 2013

What It Feels Like For A Woman.

I don't know if Happy International Women's Day is the right way of saying it but if you're a woman and you're reading this post, I hope you had a chance at some point of today to either get involved in formal commemorative events or else took a moment to reflect on how much most women living in 'first world' nations have in comparison to our sisters in other countries. In 2013, it's disgraceful that this kind of comparison can still be made.

The theme for this year is ending violence against women. With the recent case of the Indian student who died after a horrific gang rape and the countless stories of attacks against women in our own country, I hope that the emotions that the crimes generate can be channelled into real changes in attitude and policy and not just be puffs of hot, headline grabbing air. Attitudes are things we can change without having to wait for politicians and lawmakers and their attendant bureaucracy

I didn't have the chance to participate in anything formal today but I was fortunate enough to find a few moments to be thankful for what I take for granted for every moment of every other day of the year. There are so many simple things in my day that women in other countries may not even be able to contemplate.

I can eat whatever I want without having to sacrifice quantity or quality due to poverty or ignorance.

What I decide to do with my day is entirely up to me. I can dress as I please and my gender does not prohibit me from doing particular activities or visiting public places. I feel safe walking the streets as a woman and I trust that the law enforcement agencies would act for me as they would for any man.

Access to comprehensive antenatal care was a right rather than a privilege for me. With both my baby and myself in good health, being a mother in Australia is worlds apart from motherhood in a developing nation. Whilst mothers there carry their babies in slings to enable them to continue back breaking work to feed many mouths, baby slings in my part of the world are often a novel extravagance for going to mother and baby yoga class. It has to be said though that the calming effects on baby of being carried/worn are universal.

As women in Australia, we already have so much. There are inequalities of income that we will eventually close but for the most part, we are equal to men. But can we start to be equal as women? And not compare and critique each other for no other reason than to feed our own insecurities.

Such a good post. We had someone from Care Australia come talk to us when we had a morning tea for IWD at work, it's crazy when you think about how lucky we have it and how disadvantaged some people are.